‘Strictly’ race row: Nearly 300 complaints

The ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ race row shows no signs of waning after the number of viewers complaining hit nearly 300, that۪s four times the initial amount.

The BBC show came underfire on Sunday when the News Of The World revealed that Anton Du Beke had called his dance partner, Laila Rouass, a “Paki”.

The rise in complaints comes as anti-fascist group Hope Not Hate called on the corporation to take action over the dancer’s comments, asking: “Quite simply the programme has to ask itself, is it going to condone racism on its show or is it going to deal with it quickly and decisively?”

A spokesman for Hope Not Hate, a campaign group run by the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight, asked: “If calling someone a Paki is not racist behaviour then what is?”

The BBC was forced to defend its decision not to drop Du Beke from-the popular weekend show today after the remarks emerged.